The third PLANET OF THE APES in the new series just got a director and now it has a release date!

Just as I predicted last week when it was announced that Matt Reeves was signed to return and direct the third PLANET OF THE APES film, Fox has set a 2016 release date. More specifically the film will hit theaters, July 29th, 2016.

The damn dirty apes will return yet again, as UNTITLED PLANET OF THE APES (not the official title) stakes out 7/29/16.

Fox is really trying to follow the recent trend with blockbuster franchises, in getting the sequels developed and ready to shoot for release just a year or two after the previous film. They are doing this with the X-MEN franchise with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE already having a 2016 date, and the three AVATAR films set to be shot together and released just a year apart. We will see if this pays off for them both financially and creatively, but I hope they are doing this with a plan and not just throwing shit against a fan to see what sticks.

A quick personal thought, I know that it is easy (and somewhat fun) to give the PLANET OF THE APES films grief for their titles, and some of you have trouble differentiating them (understandably). Personally though, I like them a hell of a lot better than shit subtitles like X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION or any of the other generic sounding bullshit titles.

I hope the PLANET OF THE APES titles get a lot more crazy and fun with their titles. Any guesses as to what they will call this one?